


About Time I Asked You

by Jenwryn



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-23
Updated: 2007-05-15
Packaged: 2017-10-02 13:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenwryn/pseuds/Jenwryn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finally, he's asked her on a date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. About Time I Asked You

**Author's Note:**

> Doctor Carolyn Lam looked up from the piles of paperwork scattered over her desk, and allowed a small smile to slip to her face as Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell strolled into the infirmary. His hair was wet from showering, and he hadn't dried it very well, so that the collar of his already dark t-shirt had gone almost black.

'Hi,' she said, 'I heard you were back. Haven't you already had your check-up though?'

'Yup.' He came and rested indolently against her desk.

She looked at him curiously, pleased for a distraction from the paperwork, especially when it was so pleasant to look at. Then she pointed at him with her pen and said in mock accusation, 'Daniel's been telling me all sorts of interesting stories about your last assignment.' She paused, grinned, 'I hear you can _dance_.'

He grinned disarmingly, one of those special grins of his that started in his eyes before moving slowly across the rest of his face, and admitted with a shrug, 'It's possiblethat I know my left foot from my right.'

Her smiled twitched slightly and then she continued, still pointing her pen at him and bobbing it a little to accentuate her words, 'I hear that the ladies were pretty good at dancing too.'

He shrugged a second time, 'Oh, you know. Danny-boy collected himself a few more fangirls, the usual sort of thing. Don't get me wrong, a guy could retire there, but... really, would I be so shallow?' He grinned self-effacingly.

She laughed at his expression, put the pen back down on the desk, and said, 'Which is to say that you got left out in the cold. Poor Colonel.'

He looked sheepish, 'Which is to say exactly that. But you know, all that free time on my pat malone while Daniel was off making important - er - cultural exchanges - got me thinking. And you know what I realised? That I wasn't all that cut up about not being on the top ten hottest bachelors list. So then I got to thinking about why that might be, and I made the oddest discovery.'

She leant over her paperwork and looked up at him in playful conspiracy, 'Oh, really? Pray, do tell.'

He took a deep breath and answered slowly, 'I discovered that it was about time I asked you on a date.'

She blinked, sat back in her chair in pleased surprise, and turned it a little from left to right before asking, _'Did_ you now? And where were you thinking of taking me on this proposed date?'

He looked at her sideways, beaming at the fact that she wasn't freaking out or screaming for her father, and admitted, 'Haven't the foggiest idea.'

She gave him an inscrutable look, gathered her papers together, tapped them against her desk, and said calmly, 'Well, Colonel I-haven't-the-foggiest-idea, I sure hope you've thought up _something_ by Friday. After work, hm?' Then she swanned out of the room without so much as another glance in his direction, leaving him standing in her there in her wake with a doopy grin the size of Alaska on his face.

_Way cool..._


	2. Colonel I-Haven't-The-Foggiest-Idea

Vala, Daniel Jackson, and Cameron Mitchell sat at a table in the mess-hall.

Mitchell was staring at his glass of jelly, a bunch of mission reports scattered across the space in front of him, and a pen in one hand. He was tapping the end of the pen against the table - _tap, tap, tap - (oh God where do I take her?) - tap, tap, tap - (Dinner? A movie? I don't even know what she does for fun!) - tap, tap, tap _\- until Daniel simply couldn't take it any more. The archaeologist glanced up with a pained expression on his face, and asked dryly, 'Something bothering you, Mitchell, or do you just have change the volume on the music so that the rest of us can hear the tune rather than just the bass beat?'

Cam started, stared at him, and responded, 'Eh?'

Daniel sighed patiently, 'The pen. Give it up with the pen already.'

'Oh, sorry.' Mitchell dropped the pen hurriedly, and then, glancing sideways at Daniel, said in a quick, cheery voice, 'Hey, Jackson, what d'you know about Doctor Lam?'

Daniel blinked at him from behind his glasses, 'Ah - that she's Landry's daughter. What else could you need to know?'

There was a pregnant pause and then Vala smirked, leant half her body across the table to bring herself into the line of sight of both men, and crowed, 'You finally asked her out, didn't you? Didn't you? C'mon, you can tell _me_... and besides, if you did, then you've earnt me ten of your Earth dollars because smarty-pants Daniel here said you weren't that stupid. Me, on the other hand, I know that you're male and thus by definition obviously _are _that stupid. And I've seen how you watch her! It's _sooooo _obvious.'

Cam looked irritated, then gave up and grinned sheepishly, before saying, 'Cough up the money for the lady, Jackson.'

Daniel looked disgusted, and muttered something about there definitely being no ladies present, but dug out some money nevertheless, and counted it out onto her waiting palm. Of course, she counted it through a second time. Just in case.

'Well?' asked Mitchell when they'd done, 'What do you know?'

Vala opened her mouth with a scurrilous look on her face, but before she could speak he added swiftly, '_Not _you. Jackson? I know you two are friends.'

The archaeologist shrugged slightly, 'If you want to know where to take Carolyn on a date, I can't really help you. You're right, we're friends, but we mostly end up talking about SG stuff. You know how it is. And then we talk about _my _kind of stuff - but unless you fancy taking her to a museum...?'

Mitchell was about to make a rude response to that - he had already snorted loudly - when he realised that Vala's eyes had gotten very large and she was pointing in a not-particularly-subtle way behind him and mouthing 'oops'. He _really_ wasn't sure he wanted to turn around. Only two people could cause that reaction. One was Carolyn herself (which would be rather embarrassing) and the other was - he turned reluctantly -

Oh, _jay-sus_, yes. Her father.

The General had an odd look on his face, and said, 'Mitchell,' by way of curt greeting.

Mitchell managed a half-grin, 'Um - hi - sir how's it going?' Then he clamped his mouth shut. Man, he could come out with some rubbish at times.

Landry, who was apparently thinking much the same thing, rolled his eyes to the ceiling, clamped a hand down on the Colonel's shoulder, and said calmly, 'You could always try the circus. I hear there's one in town at the moment. She always loved the circus. Of course, that was a while back, but...'

Mitchell stared at him, stunned. 'Sir? You're not - um - I mean - er - you don't mind, sir?'

Landry's face was inscrutable. 'Better the devil you know.'

Cam sat up a little straighter and beamed proudly, 'Gee, thanks sir.'

The older man grinned in a slightly wicked way, his grip tightening for a second and replied, 'Oh, don't thank me too much. The best thing about you is that I'm in the optimal position to ruin _your_ life if you mess with my little girl's life.'

The air went out of him. 'Oh.'

Still grinning, Landry slapped him heartily on the shoulder and moved to leave, then added as a wry afterthought, 'Of course, I wouldn't tell her who suggested it if I were you, unless you want a remarkably_ short_ date.' And then he walked off, thoroughly amused with himself.

Mitchell turned back to find Daniel and Vala grinning at him broadly.

'What?' he demanded.

They exchanged a meaningful look, then Vala reached out and took a huge spoonful of his jelly, before answering through her mouthful, 'I think, Colonel, that dating the General's daughter is a bad career move.'

He stuck his tongue out at her, and snatched his jelly back. The circus, eh? Suddenly, he was hungry.


	3. Friday On My Mind

When Friday came around Mitchell spent the whole day fidgeting. He'd ended up off-world with Daniel in some ruin thingy and had passed _hours_ looking at his watch to make sure that the time differences between the two planets didn't fool him into getting back late. Daniel had gotten more than a little irritated by it.

And then, during the debriefing, Landry had given him this _look _that Cam couldn't make heads or tails of, though really wasn't sure he wantedto. It had occurred to him belatedly that the guy had a weird sense of humour, and might be messing with his head. Maybe Carolyn actually hated that stuff, maybe... which meant Mitchell had spent the rest of the day asking anyone and everyone questions about Doctor Lam. Though it really was a bit late, come to think of it.

But _finally _he was showered and dressed in civvies, and free to wander almost nervously down to the infirmary.

Where he found Carolyn with a slightly harassed look on her face, up to her arms in some marine's intestines and fishing out bullets. 'I - er - we can do this some other time, if you want,' he'd said quickly, meaning to do her a favour and then suddenly freaking out that it might have sounded as though he were looking for an excuse to get out of it. But she'd just shot him a small, rapid smile and said, 'No, it's okay. If you don't mind waiting...?'

He'd shrugged and smiled back, and then found himself a chair where he could watch her (but not what she was actually doing)...

* * *

'Mitchell?'

Her voice, soft, permeated into his brain and he woke with a grunt and opened his eyes, saying speedily, 'Wasn't asleep.'

She gave him a look and her mouth twitched in amusement. 'Well, that's a little strange. I've never met someone who snores while he's awake, before. Now I'm not sure you're safe to go out in public with...'

He grinned sheepishly, then got to his feet and looked her up and down, and managed to murmur, _'Wo_.'

She glanced down at herself critically - she wore a dark top, a soft skirt, and tall boots - and commented, 'Well, I didn't know what to wear because you never got around to telling me what we'd be doing on this proposed date of yours.'

He was still gazing at her in appreciation, but then shook himself back to listening to her talk, and answered, 'Oh. Right. Well, I was thinking dinner and then, maybe, we could check out the circus that's in town...?' It came out all like one big question, as though he were seeking her approval. Which, of course, he was. She shot him a sideways glance, that he couldn't quite interpret, and then smiled, answering, 'Sounds lovely.'

He beamed all across his face, then added, 'But - um - if you wouldn't mind, can we duck past my place on the way because I didn't feed my dog this morning,' (he refrained from adding that he'd forgotten because he'd been thinking about their date), 'and she'll be seriously bitchin' about it by the time I get home otherwise.'

She shrugged slightly, 'Okay.' To be honest, she was kind of curious to see what the home of Cameron Mitchell would be like...

* * *

They'd pulled up at his place and she'd gotten out of his pick-up - and by then, it was too late. By the time Cam had seen his great, stupid dog... _oh, jay-sus, that was the end of it before it had even begun..._ He put his hand over his eyes in horror, and then took it away, and looked again. Carolyn sat with a stunned expression on her face, in the mud, and stared at the great big hairy dog who was beaming down at her with a slobbery doggy grin, tail wagging ten to the dozen, as though knocking the doctor into the dirt was the cleverest thing she'd done all year. Mitchell hurried to Carolyn's side to help her up, and began, 'I'm _so_ sorry -'

But to his surprise, Carolyn looked at him, then at the dog, then back at him, and burst into laughter - loud and full like he'd never heard her laugh in the SGC. 'Oh!' she managed, then to his hand and let herself be pulled to her feet, before surveying the damage, 'If only you could see your face...!'

He was still completely gobsmacked that she wasn't cross - after all, she was always so _neat_ \- and said as much. She was getting off the worst of the mud with a tissue, then gave him a look, and said, 'Cameron. You _did _see what I was doing when you came to pick me up, right? I was up to my elbows in that man's innards. I think I can survive some mud.'

'Oh. Right.' Then, 'Oh, _crap_, what time is it?' And the next second he'd dashed inside to make a phone call. He came back out looking embarrassed, before smiling self-depreciatingly. 'We're way too late for the table I'd booked and now they're full. Um -?'

She smiled wryly, glanced at her skirt, and said, 'I probably couldn't have turned up like this, anyway.' She glanced past him towards his home, a little speculatively, then asked, 'Can you cook?'

His humble smile became a broad grin. He _knew _there was a reason he liked this chick. 'What'd you say to Mexican...?'


	4. Bread And Circuses

'_You _do taekwon-do?'

They were walking from his truck after a highly pleasing dinner - if he did say so himself - towards the circus tent, and he couldn't help it if his voice sounded a little surprised. All around them milled couples coming for the late night show, but for the moment he only had eyes for her.

She smiled mischievously, 'All that research and you didn't know that. Fancy.'

He glanced at her quickly, and decided to play dumb, 'What research?'

'You know what research,' she answered archly (quickly putting money down for her ticket before he could pay for her), 'Honestly, Cameron - you spent all day asking people about me, and you didn't think it would get back to me? The SGC's like a social fishbowl.'

He grimaced, though his eyes were smiling, 'Ouch. That _was _kinda stupid.'

She smiled suddenly, and slipped her arm through the crook of his elbow as they entered the tent, 'Actually, it's kind of flattering.'

'Really?'

_That _didn't even deserve an answer.

* * *

They had good seats and the show was well worth seeing. Apparently Carolyn really _did _love the circus, because she smiled like a little kid the whole way through and sat on the edge of her seat during the acrobatics, even - to his delight - twining her hand in his at one particularly breathtaking point, and then leaving it there after she'd relaxed back into her chair with the arrival of some clowns balancing plates. The acrobats, she said, were what she loved most. She'd done gymnastics as a kid, he learnt, and it was the only thing she'd ever come even vaguely close to choosing as a career instead of medicine.

As for Mitchell, he hadn't been to a circus in more years than he could remember. He'd rather thought that it might be a bit dull, considering some of the extraordinary stuff he'd seen and done in the time between - but to his surprise, it wasn't. There was something about the enthusiasm of both the performers and the audience that simply caught him up... and then, of course, there was the highly pleasant company...

* * *

It was awfully late when he was finally standing at her door and making his goodbyes. 'So,' he said.

She looked at him quizzically, leaning against the lintel, 'So indeed.'

He laughed, 'You sound just like Teal'c.'

'Occupational hazard.'

They smiled, then he glanced at her, and at the door, then back at his truck and said, 'Well... I guess I'd better be going.'

Another quizzical look, then, in a suddenly warm voice, 'You want to come in for a coffee?'

Cameron looked surprised, then pleased, then glanced at his watch and replied awkwardly, 'Um - no - I'd better be going. There's this delegation thing tomorrow..'

She shot him a small, sly smile and said, 'You're scared that my father will want to know just _how _much I liked his idea about the circus.'

He stared at her, gobsmacked. Her small smile worked itself into a slow grin, and she shook her head at him, 'Cameron - you had the conversation in front of _Vala_...'

He smacked himself in the head, and groaned. Then peered at her in the glow of her porch-light and said, 'You're not freaking out because your Dad didn't shoo me off with a gun at the garden gate?'

She chuckled, 'Let's just say we don't _always _disagree... just don't you dare tell _him _that. But I'm a big girl, Cameron. What I do in my own time is entirely my own business. Now, are you coming in, or not? I can make it Irish Coffee.'

He grinned broadly, 'Well, in that case...'


	5. Good Morning

Cameron stretched slightly, before opening his blue eyes cautiously. Actually, for a few moments he’d not really wanted to open them at all, for fear that he might discover that it had been nothing more than a very pleasant dream, and that he was actually in his own bed, with his great slobbery dog for company… Still, he cracked his eyes open - and to his delight found that it wasn’t a dream. Carolyn was lying beside him, propped up on one elbow, a mess of white cotton sheets around her and her dark hair hanging loose against her face. Furthermore, she had a rather appealingly possessive expression in her eyes – though of course she blinked and hid it the moment she realised he was awake and watching her.

‘Hi there,’ she said with a smile, then joked lightly, ‘I think we might have had a bit much Irish in ratio to the coffee…’

'Hmm,' he murmured, reaching out a hand to flick at her hair gently, and thinking how beautiful she was in the morning light. But then he suddenly realised that there was _way_ too _much_ light, and he stared at his watch in horror before exclaiming, 'Oh, crap! The general's gunna have my guts for garters. I was supposed to be standing around looking pretty when Daniel gave that talk to the delegation today. I’m so dead!'

He sat up in a rush and started looking around for his clothes while she just raised her eyebrows, unperturbed, and said quietly, 'Calm down. It's too late now to be bothering, and besides, they're not expecting you today anyway.'

He paused, 'They're not?'

'No. I called you in sick.'

'You -?' he stared at her - trying to imagine the talk that would go around when they all heard that Carolyn had been the one to phone in - trying to imagine her _father’s_ reaction!

She lay back languidly amongst the sheets and stretched just like he had done a few minutes earlier. 'Oh yes. Sweet revenge on my old man...'

'Oh, _God_.'

She smiled, 'You know, I think Vala might have warned you about me.'

'I -' he looked stricken, then she burst into sudden laughter - lovely and unexpected, just like when his dog had bowled her over - and sat up and put her hands softly on his face. 'You pull some of the most priceless expressions, Cameron. Stop worrying, I wouldn't do something like that. In reality I phoned Daniel and he'll think up some story to cover for you, just like he always does. And it happens to be my day off, so there’s no reason for anyone to put two and two together, if that’s what you’re worried about. Now, come back to bed…’

He was still staring at her, but then he shook his head, and chuckled. 'You are an unexpectedly wicked woman, Carolyn Lam.'

She pulled him towards her and kissed him, before whispering, 'Oh, you haven't even scratched the surface yet...'


End file.
